An American Family History

Anne Treahy
Sister Mary Lawrence

Children of Bartholomew Treahy
and Bridget Moran

Eliza Treahy Griffin

Elizabeth Catherine Treahy Cleveland Copley

John Bartolomew Treahy

Helen Treahy Flynn

Anne Treahy (Sister Mary Lawrence)

Patrick Joseph Treahy

The Great Famine or the Irish Potato Famine was between 1845 and 1852. About a million people died and a million more emigrated. It was caused by a potato blight. The famine permanently changed Ireland.

Anne Treahy was born in 1834 in Askeaton, County Limerick, Ireland. Her parents were Bartholomew Treahy and Bridget Moran.

On March 19, 1853 when she was 19, she became a Franciscan nun and served with the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, Sisters of St. Joseph. She took the religious name Sister Mary Lawrence.

She died when she was only 26 on April 30 1859 in Toronto and was buried with her parents at St. Michael's.

The peak period of Irish immigration to Canada was during the Great Famine between 1845-1849. Most immigrants went to Canada because the fares were lower. Ships that reached Canada lost many passengers and even more died while in quarantine. From the reception station at Grosse-Ile, most survivors were sent to Montréal. The typhus outbreak of 1847 and 1848 killed many of the new immigrants. An economic boom following their arrival allowed many men to work in on the expanding railroad, in construction, in the logging industry, or on farms.

The city of York was incorporated as Toronto on March 6, 1834. The city grew and developed significantly during the the 19th century. The Irish famine brought a large number of Irish immigrants to the city and they became the largest ethnic group.

Toronto 1856

County Limerick, is in the Mid-West Ireland and is part of the province of Munster.

Askeaton is in southwest Ireland in County Limerick on the river Deel. It is about two miles upstream from the Shannon Estuary.

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from Dictionary of Biography of Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto

April 30, 1859

Treahy, Ann (Lawrence); born in Askeaon (sic), Co. Limerick, Ireland (1835) entered March 19, 1853, received the habit August 14, 2853, [final vows on August 15, 1855], died April 30, 1859 in Toronto, Ontario and is buried in St. Paul's Cemetery; in 1879 remains were transferred to St. Michael's Cemetery, Toronto.

Ann was the daughter of Bartholomew Treahy and Bridget Moran. Having received her eduction in Ireland. Ann emigrated to Canada with her family.

She made her noviate in the convent in Amherstburg during which time she instructed the children committed to the care of the Sisters there. She returned to Toronto where she made her profession and continued to serve in that city until sent to Barrie as Superior in 1858. She died of tuberculosis in Toronto not quite twenty-four years of age.

Sisters of St. Joseph Toronto Archives.

biography courtesy of Bev Schmidt

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An American Family History

Anne Treahy Sister Mary Lawrence

Anne Treahy
Sister Mary Lawrence